St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-07-17
INJURED FIRENTEN.
Serious Accident at a New York
Blaze YESTERDAY.

New YORK, July 1G.-Fire was dis
covered about o'clock this morning in
the five-story brick building of the Met
rOpOlitan storage house in Thirty-eighth
street, between Broadway and Sixth
avenue. In few moments the flames
mounted up the structure, finding ready
food in the light stuff stored therein.
Before the firemen arrived the whole
place was raging furnace. The flames
were shooting up towards the sky. The
warehouse formed an l. with the Casino
building and for awhile it was feared
that that beautiful temple of light opera
would be in ashes, but it was saved by
the strenuous efforts of the firemen.
The Hotel Normandie is quite near and
was set on fire, by falling sparks.
The. guests were. -hurriedly aroused.
Porters rushed through the halls
and knocked at every door. The
guests We're told that there was
no immediate danger. They asked if
they would have time to pack their
valuables. Being answered in the
affirmative they soon packed their
trunks and carried them down stairs,
The fire on the roof of the Hotel Nor
mandie was soon eXtinguiShed, how
ever, and the guests, being reaSSured,
went back TO their rooms. Soon after
the firemen had got to work at the
storage warehouse building a terrible
explosion occurred, and seven firemen,
WHO were at work on the first floor,
were blown through the windows to the
street. All of them were very SeverelY
burned about the hands and head, and
an ambulance call was Immediately
sent out. When the ambulance arrived
most of the injured tiremen were un-
conscious, and by that time five of them
had been cOnveyedm patrol wagon
to the hospital. They were Capt.
Nitler, of Engine No. 20, and four of his
men. The other two were John Com
roy and John Douglas; of Engine Cosa9
pany No. l. They were taken
lance. The buildings and land are the
property of the GOelet estate. The fire
was discovered by the watchman, An
gus Mcdonald, who was i'll the building
at the time and at once sounded the
alarm. The damage as far as could be
estimated was S5,000,0 600, although it
may be much more. The building was
one leased by Scion WinterbOUtOm from
the GOelet estate. Every possible pre-
caution had been taken against fire.
Watchmen, clerks and the most recent
inventions for the prevention of cOntia-
gratiOns that could be secured were
adopted. In the face of all this Mr..
WinterbOttOm did not think it neces-
sary to insure anything in the place, so
that his loss will be almost total one.
He. places his loss at 100000. 1t is
stated that the big building was full
FROM CELLAR TO ROOF.
The furniture stored in the building
was the property of wealthy families
mostly. Many valuable oil paintings
were burned. 1t is thought that the in
dividual losses will aggregate more than
S1,000,O00. Each individual storekeeper,
rs rule, insured for himself and trans
ferred the policy to the store house.
The household goods and wardrObes of
many theatrical people were in the
building. Reports were coming Ill all
day from stOrerS, who wished to learn
the extent of the disaster. There was
not all explosive substance in the build
ing, and the explosion which occurred
known as the dreaded back draught.